The Darkness Within (13 page)

He stepped forward. Rocks and dirt at his feet tumbled over the side of the ledge. Realization hit me, doubling me over in pain. He hadn’t gone to our spot to wait for me. He’d gone to die. He was going to jump.

13

“E
THAN
!” My scream shook the surrounding trees. Birds scattered, flying off. Leaves fluttered to the ground. Ethan’s image disappeared.

“Sam.” Shannon’s wide eyes pleaded with me to stop, to get control.

My body trembled with magic. I was tapping into it without meaning to. It was responding to my fear. “How do we get to him?” My eyes darted back and forth between Dylan and Shannon. “How?” There had to be some magical way to teleport—something. “He can’t die. Tell me how to get there!”

“You can’t.” Dylan’s voice was stern but caring. “We can’t fly or teleport or anything like that.”

“But she can astral project,” Shannon said.

I didn’t know that was a real thing, but I’d heard of it. There wasn’t time to debate or even think. “Tell me how.”

Shannon rushed over to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. “You need to center yourself. Calm your breathing.” Like that was possible right now. Ethan was about to end his life—and mine with it. “You have to picture yourself leaving your body, and then visualize yourself with Ethan.” This seemed crazy, but I didn’t have any other options. Dylan came to my side and placed one hand on my shoulder next to Shannon. They both started breathing deeply, and I could feel my lungs respond to them, mimicking them. My
heart rate slowed. I closed my eyes and pictured my astral-self floating out of my body.

“Find him.” The voice was in my mind, but I knew it was Shannon. As much as it pained me, I visualized the image of Ethan standing on that cliff. I heard the rocks slipping from the edge. I smelled the dirt beneath his feet.

“Sam?” Ethan said.

I opened my eyes. It had worked. I was on the edge of the mountain with Ethan. He looked shocked, like he had no idea how I was there with him. “Ethan, don’t! You can’t jump. You can’t leave me. You brought me back. I shouldn’t be here, and without you I don’t want to be here. We’re in this together. All of this. If you jump, I’ll go with you. I’ll get back to my body and follow you out here for real.”

“No.” He shook his head and waved me off. “Don’t even talk like that. You’re supposed to live. That’s why I have to do this. I won’t be responsible for hurting you, Sam. I won’t let myself kill the one person I have left in this world.” He reached for me, but I wasn’t in my physical body. I was nothing more than a ghost.

“We’ve both lost everything.
Everything
. You’re all I have left. If you do this, all we’ve been through will be for nothing.”

“You’ll get to live without having to worry about me ending up like Dylan.” He stepped closer to the edge again and peered down. “This is the only way. I love you, Sam.”

Out of my body, I couldn’t access any magic. I was powerless in that sense. So, I used the only thing I could think of. “You selfish bastard!” He turned, looking more hurt than I’d ever seen him look. “This is what you brought me back for? What, is this payback? I made you watch me die of cancer, so now you’re going to make me watch you kill yourself? If that’s what this has come to, then I wish you would’ve left me to rot in my grave!”

I felt my hold on my astral-self slipping. My emotions must have been pulling my physical body out of its relaxed state. I hoped Dylan and Shannon could keep my breathing and heart rate steady, just for a little while longer.

“You think I’m doing this to hurt you?” Ethan stepped toward me again. “You know I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

“Then come back to me. I’m at the clearing with Dylan and Shannon. We know how to help you. Let me save you the way you saved me. Please, Ethan. Please.”

He stared at me, debating all of this. Weighing his options. “You’d really kill yourself if I jumped?”

“I wouldn’t have to. My heart would stop the second you jumped. Sending my body over that ledge after you would just be a way to dispose of the remains.”

His head lowered, and he looked lost. “I can’t risk hurting you. I won’t jump, but I have to get away from you. I have to leave, and you can’t follow me. You have to promise you won’t come after me.” He raised his head to meet my eyes.

“There’s something else we can do. A way to protect me so you can stay.”

His eyes bored into mine. “Sam.” He didn’t believe me. He thought I was grasping at straws. Maybe I was, but I wasn’t going to let him walk out of my life, especially when his own future was so up in the air.

“It’s true, Ethan. Dylan wants me to wear the necklace he gave me. Remember how it protected me from Nora’s magic?” I had no idea why I’d wanted it back after Nora had stolen it. Maybe my witchy magic had been able to predict something like this happening. Maybe deep down I knew I’d need that protection again some day.

“You think it will protect you from me?” I could tell the words pained him. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing control, of using magic on me.

“Dylan thinks so.”

Ethan’s head jerked. He didn’t like the uncertainty one bit.

“He
knows
it will. Nora wouldn’t have stolen it if it wasn’t effective. It’ll work.”

Ethan was quiet for a moment. This was a lot for him to process. He was going through something I couldn’t even imagine. Well, maybe I could. I tried to be patient, but my nerves were making it harder and harder to stay in my astral body, to keep from returning to the clearing with Dylan and Shannon.

“Okay, but I’m not coming near you until you’re wearing the necklace. And even then, I’m keeping some distance.”

“What does that mean?” We lived together. How much distance could he get?

“I’ll see if I can stay with Dylan.”

“No! Ethan, this is crazy. The necklace will work. We can even test it if you need proof.”

His eyes widened. “I’m not using magic on you to test whether or not the necklace will block it. You can’t ask me to do that.” He was breathing hard. Things were going in the opposite direction of how I wanted them to.

“Okay, we’ll figure it out. Just come to the clearing. I’m there with Dylan and Shannon. Dylan has the necklace. I’ll have it on long before you meet us there.”

“I’m serious about the distance.”

I couldn’t argue with him, not when I needed him to get off this mountain and come to the clearing. “I know.” I wasn’t going to lie and say I agreed or was okay with his decision.

“I’ll see you in the clearing.” He didn’t move, and neither did I. “What is it?”

I hated not trusting Ethan, but I had to see him get in his car and drive away. I had to make sure he wouldn’t go back on our deal. “You first. It will only take me a second or two to get back.”

“You think I’m lying? That I’m just waiting for you to leave and then I’m going to hurl myself over the edge?”

“I think the dark magic inside you is clouding your thoughts. Humor me. Please.”

He sighed and walked to his car. His eyes never left mine. He was hurt. I’d never not trusted him before. I knew how this seemed to him, but I was only trying to protect him. He peeled out on the gravel and down the hill. I stepped forward, looking out over the edge of the mountain. I’d loved this view. This had been one of my favorite places to be with Ethan. Now, it would never be the same.

I closed my eyes and pictured my astral-self reuniting with my body in the clearing. Dylan’s and Shannon’s faces filled my mind. It must have been working, because they smiled as I sailed closer to my body. I opened my eyes, and I was standing in front of the fire. Ethan’s image was still showing in the flames. He was in his car, and he was almost here.

“I need the necklace.” I held out my hand to Dylan.

He reached into his jacket pocket. “That was the only way you were able to convince him to come back, wasn’t it?” I nodded and grabbed the necklace from his hand. He kept hold of the chain. “Turn around.” He wanted to help me put it on. I looked at Shannon for help. This was weird. With all the questions about Dylan’s true feelings for me, I didn’t want him helping me put on the necklace he’d given me. “You’re not alone in this, Sam. Stop acting like you have to do everything on your own.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe I was being stupid. I swept my hair to one side and turned around, letting Dylan fasten the necklace for me. His hand grazed my neck, and I felt the slightest electrical charge. I twisted my head to look at him, to see if he’d done it on purpose. His cheeks reddened. No. He hadn’t done it on purpose, and that proved one thing. He did have feelings for me. I stepped toward Shannon, putting distance between Dylan and me. “Ethan will be here any minute. I want to meet him.”

“He knows the way here,” Dylan said. “Give him time. This can’t be easy on him.” Dylan would know. I had to trust him. I nodded, but I continued to watch the Ethan-cam going on in the fire. Guilt churned my stomach. Not being able to trust Ethan was killing me. I just wanted to see him, wrap my arms around him, and tell him I loved him. I wanted to make him better.

Shannon placed her hand on my shoulder. “Relax. He’ll be here soon.”

“It’s taking forever.” My voice shook. Damn it, I didn’t want to cry.

“It only seems that way to you.”

The sound of tires on gravel stopped our conversation. The image in the fire burned out. Ethan was here. I ran to the edge of the clearing, looking for signs of him. He’d walk the rest of the way from where we usually parked. My heart pounded so loud I couldn’t hear anything else. His red shirt broke through the trees lining the edge of the woods. Instinctively, my hand reached for the necklace. “Please work.” I started toward Ethan, but he raised his hand to stop me.

“Stay back, Sam. Please.” He veered to my right, going toward Dylan. Dylan’s eyes met mine, and he nodded. He was going to help Ethan any way he could. It was strange to see the two of them seeking
each other out like this. They weren’t friends. The coven had joined them, but that was all. Until now. The dark magic was giving them a common bond.

“Glad you came back, man.” Dylan put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder.

Ethan nodded. “I could use a place to crash until…this is over.” I didn’t like the way he’d said that. Like he thought this was going to end with his death.

I moved closer, and Ethan stepped behind Dylan. He was truly scared to be around me. “Dylan, tell him the necklace will keep me safe. He doesn’t have to move out.”

Shannon wrapped her arm around me. “Ethan, watch.” Her eyes closed, and she mumbled a spell. When she opened her eyes again, she looked me up and down. “See? Nothing. If my spell had worked, she’d be covered in pig’s blood.”

I backed away from her. “What? Why would you try to do that to me?”

“Because the spell had to be unfriendly. The necklace protects you from spells meant to harm you in some way. If I would’ve done something lame like curled your hair, the necklace wouldn’t have stopped the spell.”

“How would pig’s blood hurt her?” Dylan asked.

Shannon shrugged. “I may have added something about the pig’s blood attracting a wild animal. A
hungry
wild animal.”

I turned and smacked her hard on the shoulder.

“What? I was trying to help.” She looked to Dylan and Ethan, but they didn’t come to her defense. “It proves the necklace works and Ethan doesn’t have to stay away from you. You should be thanking me.” She was always doing stuff like this and then thinking I should be grateful. The girl’s social skills were definitely lacking.

Ethan moved a few steps closer, his eyes going back and forth between Shannon and me. “You really tried to do that to her?”

“If you don’t believe me, try a spell yourself.” Shannon stepped aside, motioning I was all Ethan’s.

I stared at him, knowing he wouldn’t try anything. He was too afraid to.

“Seriously, man, if you don’t at least try something, you’re never
going to relax around her.” I knew Dylan was only trying to help, but asking Ethan to do this was too much.

Ethan took a few more steps. If I reached out, I’d be able to touch him. “Sam, what do you think?”

Was he asking for permission to try a spell out on me? “I think the necklace works.”

He stood there staring at me. His hands rose, and my body stiffened. He was going to cast a spell. My Ethan was going to test the strength of the necklace. I winced as his hands moved closer. My eyes shut, and the next thing I knew, his arms wrapped around me. Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I squeezed him tightly. I was so happy to have him in my arms again, to breathe in his scent.

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